


Unexpected

by Caiti (Caitriona_3)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kid Fic, Multi, Star Spangled Bingo, WinterHawk Bingo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22518772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitriona_3/pseuds/Caiti
Summary: Bucky didn't expect the attack . . . but that was par for the course.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Darcy Lewis
Comments: 23
Kudos: 140
Collections: Star Spangled Bingo 2020, Winterhawk Bingo





	Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GalahadsGurl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadsGurl/gifts).



> This is definitely NOT in line with canon! Civil War never happened, etc etc etc
> 
> As requested by GG - Clint/Darcy/Bucky - Next Gen fic
> 
> Don't forget! You can pick one if you want - [SEE HERE](https://caitriona-3.tumblr.com/post/190539983617/too-many-bingo-cards)
> 
> Bingo squares filled:
> 
> Star-Spangled Bingo - I5 - Next generation fic  
> Winterhawk Bingo - O1 - Nerf war

[ ](https://imgur.com/s7vhmjg)

The attack came out of nowhere.

Bucky should have known better than to let down his guard, but he'd been too happy about escaping the debriefing to keep his focus on his surroundings. Small projectiles peppered him, and his arm came up in an instinctive movement. When the onslaught came to an end, Nerf arrows and bullets – with their Tony Stark upgraded suction cups – made him look like some giant, human-shaped dartboard. He even had one smack in the middle of his forehead.

“What the hell?”

Giggles erupted at his question. He looked up to find two adorable munchkins peering around separate corners, hands over their mouth as if trying – and failing – to hold back any further signs of amusement. Dark hair framed elvish faces set with wide blue eyes and he felt his heart melting yet again at the sight of them. Reaching up, he pulled the Nerf arrow off his forehead. 

“So,” he began, drawing out the word. “That’s how it is, hmm?”

Deeper laughter met the renewed giggles. Looking around, he found Clint leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen. “Your turn,” his partner chuckled. “Kitchen’s the safe zone, but since their Mama and I have had our turn as target, you’re up.”

“Am I?”

“Please, Daddy?”

At the twin voices speaking in stereo, Bucky pretended to consider their request, tilting his head as if in thought while he peeled the projectiles off himself. “Want me to be the bad guy?”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, then . . .” Dropping the foam ammunition on the entry table, he prowled around the back of the couch. Both girls watched him for a moment, but when he darted forward, they shrieked with delight and scattered.

Even as he gave chase, deliberately slowing his steps, Bucky marveled anew at the path his life had taken. Somehow, after coming back to himself, he managed to find his best friend, still alive and fighting the good fight. Steve Rogers brought him in from the cold, then made him a teammate. While he might have expected that kind of trust from the man who’d known the boy from Brooklyn, he figured it would take months, if not years, to earn something similar from the rest of the Avengers.

Instead, he found people willing to accept his questionable background. 

Natasha shrugged it off, her own hands red with questionable practices. If he walked Steve’s line, she’d decided to live and let live. Tony might have poked at sensitive topics, but he also made some comments on weapons and responsibilities . . . and then shoved a key card for a Tower apartment at Bucky before making himself scarce. It seemed like everyone else fell in line behind those three.

Then came Clint and Darcy.

Already a couple, the two of them attracted his notice with their reckless disregard for their own safety. Clint threw himself off buildings with enough regularity to make it a team joke while Darcy ran _towards_ a fight to help get kids and animals out of the line of fire. They kept his attention with snarky sarcasm, fierce loyalty, and the willingness to remain in the background while their friends took center stage. It didn’t hurt that both possessed the exact type of physical attraction that caught him every time. Thus, he added them to his collection of idiots to watch over while staying hands off. Bucky might be interested, but he never poached. 

Of course, that didn’t account for what would happen when they decided they wanted him to get hands **on**.

When Darcy announced her pregnancy, some people asked about the baby’s father. Not the team, they knew better then to try and press that button, but some of their allies didn’t get the memo. After a handful of annoyed replies, Darcy finally threatened to pull her Taser on the next person who tried to determine which man might be the father. 

No one showed any surprise when Nick Fury ended up twitching on the floor.

“They’re both going to be the father,” Darcy announced, waving her Taser around as she stared down the rest of the room. “One will be Daddy and one will be Papa, and that’s damn well that!”

All three of them had sat down to make plans – last names, safety protocols, godparents, etc. – for the coming child. Moving into a larger suite, they put up with the overprotective future aunts and uncles while they set up the nursery. Darcy’s waistline began to expand before they discussed first names, but then the debates got vocal, even amusing as someone began taking bets on the soon-to-arrive bundle of joy. The trio relaxed into the idea of coming parenthood, confident that between the three of them they could handle the job.

Until she proved to be carrying twins . . . and both men considered panicking.

“Rawr!” Bucky roared as he scooped up the squealing girls. “I’ve got you now!”

“Daddy!” Giggles echoed through the apartment as he swung them around. “Daddy! Put us down!”

He laughed, fingers managing to find their ribs as he crouched to make sure they wouldn’t fall in their wriggling. Both squirmed and twisted, attempting get free, as he heard his partners laughing behind him. One of the girls, their eldest, managed to get loose.

Jacqueline Jane Barton, better known to the family as simply ‘JJ’, ran around him and threw herself on his back. Her little arms went around his neck as she demanded he let her sister go. Clearly proud of herself for her escape, she tried to wrestle with him. Instead of surrendering immediately, he tickled her sister even more. The baby of the two, younger by twenty minutes, Brooklyn Frances Barton screeched as his fingers played along her side. 

Less than an hour separated them by birth, but they each possessed their own birthday – JJ being born ten minutes to midnight and Brooklyn ten minutes after.

“Dinner!”

Darcy’s call interrupted the game and both girls let him go to run to the kitchen. “Mama! We won!” JJ called out.

“We beat Daddy!” Brooklyn agreed.

“I saw!” Darcy leaned down to brush kisses over both dark heads. “Let’s get your hands washed for dinner, okay?”

“Yes, Mama.”

While they scampered towards the sink where Clint waited with two chairs ready for them, Darcy made her way over to Bucky’s side. “Welcome home,” she chuckled, sliding into his hold as he bent his head to give her a proper kiss. “We’ve missed you.”

“Same, Doll.” He sighed into the hug before nodding towards the girls. “But I needed that welcome.”

“We figured.” A rueful smile curved her lips. “Steve said it was a tough one.”

“That’s one way to put it.” The mission tried to crawl back into his mind, but he shoved it away. Darkness had no place in this kitchen. “Not something I want to think about for now,” he admitted. 

“Then don’t.” She gave him a hard hug and then stepped back. “Wash up.”

Pressing another kiss to her full lips, he followed her advice. When he came up beside the girls, he grinned as Clint shifted to helping JJ and let him take over helping Brooklyn. They exchanged a quick kiss of their own before getting the girls finished and into their seats at the family dinner table. Love and gratitude welled up in his chest, almost choking him with its intensity, as he looked around the table. The last bit of tension fell away as he banished all thoughts of work and the mission to the depths of memory. For this family, he would always answer the call to assemble – because he never wanted to allow any of that darkness to touch them. And yeah, he understood he couldn’t protect his partners; they’d already seen the shadows.

But he’d be damned if he didn’t do everything in his power to protect his girls.


End file.
